Well, it has been almost 1 year living with the Venu 2. Previously had Vivoactive 3. Moved to venu because of the oled bigger screen, the new heart rate sensor and the overall feeling of a bigger watch. Using it mainly for my bicycle rides and the heart rate recordings during the ride and in every day actions. Got it few months after the initial launch in the price of 350 euros. Lots of money if you consider that this is NOT a sport oriented watch, rather than a smart watch doing some measurements and i wanted from it to do the measurements right if you consider the brand behind the hardware. Here are my impressions, most of them were written here in this forum before my post.
Heart rate : inconsistent. when on standby it records 20-30 pulses lower than my true pulses. I have to "wake" it up and run the HR widget which after a couple of seconds displays accurately my pulses. Checked again and again and again with medical heart rate sensors and the thing when you wake up the display it just show something irrelevant and of course records in the background something that is not true when you sync at the end of the day. So simply put, the highly advertised new hr sensor is sleeping but when you wake it up is spot on. Many forum members have posted about this.
Steps : another funny story. When i stand still and move my arm back and forth it records a step. It seems that there is no accelerometer, gyrometer or whatever other sensor working. Its kinda funny to move my arm when i am eating and recording a step.
Pulse oximeter : seriously such a pitty it never worked, checked with medical pusle oximeter even shaved my wrist for good contact.
Floors climbed : working good so far
Sleep recording : i'm not gonna say anything there are various posts about this elusive function.
Watch band : yes watch bands, thinking that i can change the band with something more soft and functional... no the venu uses a mysterious pin width most probably 22.5 mm so we cannot get aftermarket bands and stick to the highly costed garmin bands 40 to 60 euros each. Problem solved ordering quick release pins (2 euros) for samsung / huawei watches. At least garmin should have stated the pins width.
Battery life : great unless you use the continuous oximeter recording.
Garmin pay : using it every single day, working GREAT
For anybody that will answer me that its my fault to buy a venu for all these things i would kindly comment that i know that im not buying a fenix or whatever but for this price range i would have expected AT LEAST some quality. That never came with the numerous firmware updates.
Thank you for reading my post